Tag: emotional

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#blogjune Scribblings

Joy

Desirable

Zealously pursued; seldom attained

A rare temptress is she

 

Hold too tight and she disappears

A fine mist

in the pre-dawn of the

summer

scorcher

 

Hold loosely and she vanishes

beneath worries

Concerns

Frustrations

troubles

 

No, she is fleeting

A vague notion, few of us are cognizant we even have…

 

… until she

has fled

And we remain.

Troubled.

In the dark.

 

With only the memory

of happier times

Just passed…

 

And regretful

at how oblivious we were.

 

—–

This is just a little something I wrote a while back. It felt like it wanted an audience 🙂

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

 

Categories
#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges random scribblings Scribblings Writing

W is for ‘wavelet’

I was writing a short story one day a year or so ago, and I needed the word for one of those small waves that washes into shore. You know, the ones that squealing toddlers get lifted over, that little children run backwards from, that bring the flotsam and jetsam of an uncaring world to deposit on the beach?

“Wave” was too big. Too much power for what I wanted. So I made up ‘wavelet’. Or so I thought…

Wasn’t I surprised to find it in my dictionary, the following day!

Wavelet. Noun. A small wave, a ripple.

Exactly what I had wanted! Don’t you just love the English language?

I do.

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

PS If you’re interested in the story I was writing, sorry. It was about a woman’s murder at the hands of her drunk ex. It was a pretty intense story. Far too ‘dark’ for this blog. *shrugs shoulders*

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family anecdotes Random thoughts Reading

On New Year’s resolutions…

I posted a few weeks back about one of my 2016 resolutions: to read through the Bible throughout the course of the year.

Well, I did that 😀

 

I must admit, it’s been a few years *cough decades* since I’ve actually kept a New Year’s resolution, so I shan’t be brave and recount my 2017 resolutions here for you now.

I’m just going to share one of my favourite images with you all: fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Every New Year’s Eve, I wake up the kids at 11.50pm and we watch Sydney’s fireworks on TV. We love it. I love the hope that comes with the new year, the thoughts of the journey ahead with all its innumerable possibilities. The world is our oyster, and all that jazz.

Here’s hoping that the resolutions you make are ones you can keep too, dear reader!

And Happy New Year 😀

KRidwyn

CC image courtesy miquitos on Flickr

Categories
momentous events Random thoughts

The big countdown…

Hi. My name’s Ceridwyn and I’m a mother of a pre-teen.

143186839_5c9fad13cd_zI’ve never been one before. This journey I’m on, it’s brand new to me.
I’m in the middle of submitting forms for High School and finding those %^&* NAPLAN results from three years ago (seriously, three weekends worth of searching and not only am I majorly embarrassed about my pathetic filing abilities, but I’m also no closer to finding that rotten piece of paper!) and discussing graduation dresses and shoes and hairstyles and OMG some of her classmates are being ASKED OUT by others of her classmates and NO! I’m too young for this! (Yes, she’s too young for it too, but that’s beside the point – if I’m not careful and don’t stop the whole ‘growing up’ thing that she’s doing at the moment, next thing I know she’ll be driving and yelling at me that I don’t understand why she MUST be with this particular boyfriend or she’ll die…!)

Okay, freak out over. For now.

Yes. My firstborn, my baby girl, my Miss11 is rushing headlong to the end of the school year, to ‘graduation’ from Primary School (I still shake my head with how ridiculous that sounds) and into the big wide world of High School.

I’m not ready.

But I can’t let her know.

One of my greatest fears is that inadvertently, my fears become hers. My limitations, limit her. She catches, via osmosis or something, the idea that change is to be feared. That it’s more desirable to stay in the comfort zone, in the place where it’s cruizy and little challenges you.

So I’m finding that my head is high and my eyes are shining (at least, I’m hoping that the ‘eyes wide’ of fear is disguised in the brightness of excitement, or even the tears of emotion at my eldest approaching such a significant milestone.) Because we do this, don’t we? We wrestle our insecurities into submission so that we can prepare our children for the life we think they’ll need? Teach them discernment, teach them about resilience, and then watch from the sidelines as they make their debut and we’re relegated to the role of bystander?

So it’s happening. And I couldn’t stop it, even if I tried. Or, when I really think about it, even if I wanted to.

Because I do want her to graduate. I do want her to experience High School – and everything beyond. I want her to have the best life that she possibly could. I want her to grab opportunities with both hands and hang on tight, and have the courage and the determination to see things through with HER head held high, and HER eyes bright and shining, knowing few regrets and happy with the person she is, and who she is becoming.

I know that she’ll do great.

Now just to get comfortable in this sideline chair of mine…

Have a great day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

CC image courtesy David Goehring on Flickr

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Reading

30 must-read books – #25

“The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp.”

Some memories remain with us, stuck like Ludlum’s simile above. I remember reading that sentence for the very first time, stopping, leaning back in my chair, looking up at the cloud-streaked sky above my parents’ house in Brisbane, and saying, “Wow.” I looked back down; read it again. And again. Then stood up and trotted off to find my dad, and share the sentence with him.

I knew, after that very first sentence in that very first chapter, that this novel, this author, was gong to be remarkable.

#bj25

No wonder these books, this character Jason Bourne, has spawned a multi-million-dollar movie series. It had to; the writing is too good to NOT be adapted for the big screen.

Unfortunately.

Because yes, I’ll go watch the movies, but any similarity to Ludlum’s incredible character / setting / plot ceases immediately after the name of the character. Just as there are many ‘John Smith’s in the world, so there is a Hollywood ‘Jason Bourne’ who bears little resemblance to Ludlum’s original creation.

Ludlum’s creation is spectacular. Rarely am I lost for words; but describing how I feel about this novel – in fact, the entire trilogy – eludes me. How many synonyms can I find for ‘brilliant’? And use them without boring my reader? (And I think that was probably my quota gone right there…)

Anyway, have *you* read this? Or the trilogy? Do you agree with me?

And have a great day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity Reading Review

30 must-read books – #6

#bj6I first encountered Ellis Peters as a teenager; with the highly entertaining character Brother Cadfael my introduction not only to the world of monks, but also to the historical crime genre.

Pictured is Book 6 in the series of 20, and my favourite as it introduces Cadfael’s son, who quickly became the most swoon-worthy of swoon-worthiness; the epitome of ‘tall, dark and handsome’ in my teenager mindset.

But as much as I love these stories, I cannot in good faith include them in this list of 30 must-reads. But that’s only because they are eclipsed by her Heaven Tree trilogy, written under her own name, Edith Pargeter.

Screen Shot 2016-06-04 at 2.27.16 pm Some would say that these three (The Heaven Tree, The Green Branch and The Scarlet Seed) are not as refined as the Cadfael series, being her earlier work, before her writing style matured. I utterly disagree.

I love, love, love this trilogy. And count myself blessed to have discovered such gorgeous, literary writing, at such a young age.

So – any Ellis Peters / Edith Pargeter fans out there? And which series do *you* prefer?

Have a fantastic day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune

Temperature and mood

I’m a fan of summer. Give me a blazing hot sun over chilly wind fingers that find the smallest gaps in your clothes; long lazy days at the beach over grey days where you never feel warm, no matter how many the layers; blue skies and sunshine over drizzle and rain and dreariness that makes the greyness felt eternal.

The beach in winter? Not my favourite place. If I could, I’d stay in bed until the sun’s heat strengthened again and the days were long enough to enjoy it.

[I find it amusing that George R. R. Martin seems to have capitalised on the whole seasons concept, and no-one can remark on the passing of autumn without recalling the Stark motto. As a former marketer, that is just GENIUS!]

Today is May 23rd. Just a few more days until Winter is official. It seems a long stretch until the middle of Spring, when I know from experience that I’ll be able to chart my happiness levels with each incremental increase on a thermometer.

At least there’s #blogJune to look forward to. And the eventual availability of GOT Season 6 DVD here in Australia too, I guess.

How about you? Does the change in season affect your mood as well?

Keep warm, everyone!

Categories
momentous events random scribblings Scribblings Writing

Writing Flash Fiction

Task: Write a story.

Limitations: Use 100 words (or fewer). Include the words: may, play, whee, brie, and quick. Submit within 48 hours.

My take on the task:

Daddy, quick – watch me slide! Whee!
Sally, four. All giggles, sloppy ice-cream kisses.

Daddy, please may I have Jaimee over to play?
My daughter, nine. Nudges and whispered secrets.

Daddy, I love you. Father’s Day, thirteen. No more under-the-table cubby-houses…

My own car? Thank you, Daddy! Squeals; hugs of gratitude.

An aisle; a walk; a bride on my arm. Tears, threatening, choked back. My heart too big for my chest.

These memories should be treasured forever.

But they’re ones I’ll never have.

The tiny limp body in my arms? My Sally?
Stillborn.

I curse the day brie was created.

 

Response by Flash Fiction contest judge and Queen of the Known Universe: Shortlisted!!! WOOT!!!!!

 

Happy writing, everyone 🙂

Categories
#AtoZchallenge momentous events my novel-in-progress Scribblings Writing

Writing up a storm…

Well, a sequel, actually. And that heading’s a little misleading, because there’s no storm in the book. So far, anyway.

But this blogpost is late (read, 11 hours later than I’d wanted) and that’s solely due to Mother’s Day. As in, the day last year when I finished JUSTINE BROWNING AND THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT. So half way through last month’s #AtoZchallenge, I decided I was going to finish JUSTINE BROWNING AND THE FAERIE DILEMMA  by Mother’s Day 2016.

Considering I had just 4 chapters done, because I’d inadvertently deleted 6 others, this was probably pushing it.

And Mother’s Day 2016 came and went, with nary a ‘The End’ in sight. It was close though, and getting closer.

But I was a little disappointed, because I was *really* hoping to get it finished within the year anniversary.

Enter a google search, just completed, prior to starting this blog post. Mother’s Day, 2015, was celebrated on May 10th here in Australia.

Today, the day after Mother’s Day 2016, is the 9th!!!

So I have just under 28 hours to complete this thing, and still ‘make it’ within the year. WOOT!!!!!

I’m heading off to type some more now. Wish me luck!!!

And have a great day, dear reader!
— KRidwyn

Categories
#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Christianity Life More about me teaching

26 lessons from God’s metaphors: #23

Today’s post is ‘W’ for ‘Word of Life’.

I love, love, LOVE being a writer. Playing with words, exploring infinite possibilities with them. With just a piece of paper, a pencil, and time, worlds can be created, rich in detail, full of interesting characters, and scenes full of laughter or nail-gripping tension. What power there is in a string of words!

The spoken word, too, is often more powerful than we realise. I’ve blogged before about my autistic Mr7. He’s the most soft-hearted person I’ve ever met. (And believe me, teachers meet a LOT of people!) So even just a mention of his ‘making the wrong choice’ is enough to bring on the tears and have him self-recriminating-in-spades. And he’s not being melodramatic. It’s all genuine. And it stops me in my tracks each time: seeing so visually how huge an effect spoken words can have.

Words have the power to heal and to harm, to inspire and to destroy. I’ll admit now, I’ve cried twice in the researching and writing of this blogpost, in realising yet again how powerful the wrong words can be. I’d been looking for a quote I’d half remembered, and discovered this image instead:

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 9.52.22 am
[Click on the image to find the original source]
And the second was one of those co-incidental-maybe-perhaps-not-finds, an article from scientificparent.org, which I immediately shared to all my friends via Twitter and Facebook:

(In fact, if you have two minutes, could you also please click through and read this article? I’d really appreciate it!)

So back to ‘W is for Word’ – our words are important. They can give life or take it away: it all depends on how we use them.

And they have this power because of the author of life, God Himself. He calls Himself ‘the Word’ – and rightly so. John 1:1 says:

W“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

God, the creator of life, spoke – and it was so. His words gave life.

That’s something I should try to emulate. Use my words to encourage, to build up, maybe even to inspire.

How about you?

Have a great day, dear reader 🙂

— KRidwyn